[RL with Rachel]

[immortal_vino]

Claire stood at the kitchen sink, watching blood from his hands and humming to himself in contentment. Tempting smells issued from the oven, and from the bubbling pot on his stove, and a bit of music floated through the apartment from the radio in the corner - a bit of soft jazz, Claire's favourite

Comments

[ridingfree]

The atmosphere wasn't too unfamiliar to Rachel, who often fell asleep on her own couch, sometimes while listening to jazz. No, what ultimately stirred her was the food. Even in sleep, she was aware that she hadn't cooked anything. In fact, she only recently acquired enough money to go grocery shopping, which she'd planned on doing later, so there shouldn't have been any food to cook.

Slowly blinking her eyes, she pushed herself up enough to blearily look around the apartment. When her eyes landed on unfamiliar furniture, unfamiliar decor, she came to the sudden, terrifying realization that it wasn't actually hers.

She quickly shot up with a gasp and braced her arms on the couch, ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

[immortal_vino]

Claire heard the creak of the couch and a soft gasp, just barely over the running water and the bubble of boiling water. He grabbed a towel and began buffing the last of the pink water from his hands as he walked back out to the living room.

"Hi!" he said cheerfully. Then he noticed her panicked expression and sobered a little with concern. "Did you sleep okay?"

[ridingfree]

Rachel's head whipped around in the direction of the voice, and her eyes widened when she saw who it was. "You--!" She stood from the couch and began to back away. "What are you... what..."

[immortal_vino]

Claire's concern deepened at Rachel's reaction. He dropped the towel on the floor and looked around alertly, as if there might be someone coming up behind him. He had been pretty involved with cutting up that pork loin that he'd bought at the store, and with cooking, and might have missed something, conceivably.

But obviously they were the only ones here.

"What's wrong, honey?" he asked, confused.